"Oh, it would absolutely have to be fancy fries, with the works. Diced green onions, tomatoes, shredded cheese, chives, and all topped with liquid cheese. Thank goodness for metabolism-boosting spells." Starlight answered, after they had the dining room to themselves and Sunburst had asked which of her favorite foods she'd like to try to cook together in the kitchen today.
"So how do we go about it? Should we work together or have a little cooking competition on who can make the better cheesy hay fries?" Sunburst asked, eager for his date's input.
"Don't you remember? Sunburst, we did amazing things when you were a colt. Together, absolutely. Actually, let's try it both ways. Come on, I'll find my favorite toppings and you find yours, and we'll cook together and compare favorite dishes!"
The two of them trotted down the short distance down the hallway to the kitchen, where everything that had been used for breakfast had already been cleaned and put away.
"Impressive." Sunburst commented, looking over the array of cooking equipment and racks of ingredients that were ready for use.
"Yep. Princesss Twilight certainly holds her share of banquets here. For the smaller events, her and Spike whip up a small table of hors d'oeuvres. For larger events she hires an entire culinary team to work here and in the dining hall."
"Alright, let's see here..." Sunburst said, looking over the recipe book shelf. Starlight giggled.
"They're fancy fries, Sunburst. Contrary to their name, they're not going to be in one of these hoity toity recipe books. We wing it!" Starlight said, her horn lighting up and cabinets and drawers began to open and the first thing to hit the counter was cutting boards, followed by raw potatoes, peelers, and chef's knives.
"Not sure about you, but I like mine smaller than most." Starlight commented as she positioned the potato against the peeler and rapidly spun it lengthwise down the utensil.
"Ah!" Sunburst gasped in surprise, as the speed of Starlight's peeling sent the spiraled potato skin airborne and landed on his own horn. Starlight to turned to see what the commotion was, and tried to stifle a laugh.
"Oh... Oh my goodness I'm sorry. Guess I'm a little excited cooking with you." Starlight apologized, magically lifting the peel from her date's horn and tossed it in the waste bin. Sunburst likewise had a laugh as he went for his peeler and potatoes.
"I prefer a bigger bite, but I'm guessing that personal preference doesn't matter as much as the toppings that go on it." Sunburst said, opening cabinets for more ingredients as he peeled his two potatoes.
"You're right about that. It should be super easy to find what you need around here; Twilight labels everything in here."
After they got their potatoes peeled and sliced, they went about preparing their toppings as Starlight pre-heated the frying oil. For Starlight, it was as she said in the dining room; minced green onions, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, chives, and a smooth liquid cheddar cheese. For sunburst, things were a little less dry, as his favorite was a three-bean chili with added onions and cheese. The difference was, he wanted to see what Starlight could do with her magic, so while the two of them prepped Sunburst's chili, Starlight's ingredients just sat there waiting for the homemade fries to come up out of the oil.
"So what would you like to do once we're all done here?" Sunburst asked as Starlight dropped the wire baskets of potato wedges into the cooking oil.
"Beautiful enough day for a walk. Tonight, we could set up the projector in the library if we want to do a movie with some popcorn." Starlight said, giving the baskets a shake to prevent the potatoes from sticking together.
"Hmm, have you seen the Harry Trotter movies?" He asked, taking his small pot of chili off the heat and giving it a final stir, before turning his attention to the sauce pot of liquid cheese still on the burner.
"Oh, I've only seen the first two. I've been looking for an excuse to watch those again!"
Sunburst gave a smile. It looked like they had their plans set for the evening. The fryer's cooking timer went off, and Starlight dumped the contents out onto two separate serving dishes.
"Alright, here we go..." Sunburst brought his pot of chili forward, dipping in a ladle, and slowly pouring the chili over the steaming hot wedges, then immediately followed up with the liquid cheese. Once they were confident that they weren't going to burn their mouths, they each took a chili-and-cheese covered wedge, and took a bite.
"Mmm... You simply can't get it this good in a restaurant." Starlight commented, giving her approval. After several more bites of Sunburst's dish, it was her turn to shine.
"Alright, let's see what that magic of yours can do."
Starlight's horn sparkled to life, and her smaller fries were lifted out of the basket, then all of her chosen raw ingredients began to spin faster and faster around them above the counter. There was a flash of light, and then there was a steaming pile of loaded fancy fries that slowly floated down next to Sunburst's dish, looking equally appetizing. They tried the magic-assisted fries, and the look on Sunburst's eyes gave it away.
"Starlight, this..." Sunburst began, with cheesy bits of hay fries nearly falling out of his mouth. "This is incredible. I mean, you could open a snack kiosk and call it 'Fresh in a Flash' or something."
"Thanks, but I'm still a bit wary of using too much magic around other townsponies. Ponyville was founded by earth ponies, and a distinct lack of magic. So many businesses here in town stay afloat because of what the proprietors do with their hooves, not what they can do with a horn, if they have one."
"Fair enough I suppose, but still... This looks like it was slaved over for hours."
The two of them continued digging into each other's plates of fries for ten minutes, and after the plates were cleared, glasses of cider were had, and everything was cleaned, high noon had given way to early afternoon.
"Well what do ya say we walk that off. Still plenty of daylight left before it's time for the movie."